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Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.

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Baptism

Baptism and the Spirit

Pneumatology, the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, is often formulated along dispensational lines. The Holy Spirit’s work in the Old Testament, we tend to think, was earthly, concerned with political and military leadership, while in the New Testament the Spirit’s work has to do with mediating salvation achieved by Christ.…

by Peter LeithartMay 27, 1996
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Biblical Horizons

Open Book 6: Views & Reviews

Homosexuality and the Love of Death Some years ago (September, 1980) Midge Decter published in Commentary one of the most illuminating pieces that I have ever seen on homosexuality. It was a very autobiographical piece dealing with her own summer vacation experiences on Fire Island off of New Jersey. When…

by Richard BledsoeApril 28, 1996
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Esther

Esther: Historical & Chronological Comments (II)

C. The Battle of Gog and Magog (Ezekiel 38-39) (continued for previous issue) A final corroboration of this interpretive hypothesis comes from what we might call the "Amalek Pattern" in the Bible. Note in Genesis 12-15 that Abram moves into the land after escaping Pharaoh (ch. 12), settles down and…

by James B. JordanApril 28, 1996
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Romans

Christ in the Holy of Holies: The Meaning of the Mount of Olives

Speaking of the Church, Romans 11:16-17 says, "And if the root be holy, the branches are also. But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the root of the fatness of the…

by James B. JordanApril 28, 1996
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Romans

Committed to the Form of Teaching

But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching (tupos didaskales) to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness (Romans 6:17-18). In his study of the use of…

by Peter LeithartApril 27, 1996
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Biblical Horizons

Review: Biblical Theology, by John Owen

John Owen (1616-1683), Biblical Theology, or the Nature, Origin, Development, and Study of Theological Truth in Six Books, translated by Stephen P. Westcott (Pittsburgh: Soli Deo Gloria Publications, [1661] 1994), hardcover, 911 pages, $50.00. Here for the first time in English is one of Owen’s most important Latin works, along…

by James B. JordanMarch 28, 1996

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Philosophy

Correlationism and Secondary Qualities

Quentin Meillassoux's After Finitude opens with a powerful assault on what he calls "correlationism" through a defense of the distinction of primary and secondary qualities. He explains the rationale behind the distinction of primary and secondary. On the one hand, "nothing sensible - whether it be an affective or perceptual…

December 6, 2018

Chiasm of Five Words

The first five commandments appear to be chiastically arranged. To wit: A. I am Yahweh; thou shalt have no other gods. B. Thou shalt not make image, bow to it, or serve it. C. Thou shalt not bear the name of Yahweh lightly. B'. Remember the Sabbath. A'. Honor your…

November 29, 2018

Mosaic Physics

In a 2000 article in Isis , Ann Blair examines what she describes as "Mosaic physics," an effort to derive principles of physics from a literal reading of the creation account in Genesis 1. Most philosophers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries tried to offer a pious natural philosophy, one…

November 28, 2018

Given and Gift, Possible and Actual

In a wide-ranging essay on how theology alone saves metaphysics , John Milbank explores the parallels between notions of "given" and the primacy of possibility on the one hand, and notions of the "gift" and the primacy of actuality on the other. He starts with Aristotle, for whom "the actual…

November 27, 2018

God's Stuff

The Bible hints in various ways that property is proper to human persons. The deepest hint between person and property becomes evident when we think of Yahweh’s property. God created everything, and so is Lord of everything. We don’t own anything outright. We talk about property “rights,” but that’s the…

November 26, 2018

Varieties of Theft

The eighth word prohibits stealing, but in Scripture the word "steal" (Heb. ganaph ) and the concept of "theft" covers more territory than we might assume. 1) There is a cluster of uses of ganaph in Genesis 31 (8x). Laban accuses Jacob of "stealing" away (vv. 20, 26-27), perhaps a…

November 21, 2018

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